Positions are still up for grabs in the Maidstone team with just a week to go until the new season.

Boss Jay Saunders has one more chance to look at his players when Stones host Sittingbourne in their final pre-season friendly on Saturday.

Then he’ll get to work on deciding his line-up for the opening Ryman League, Premier Division match at home to Wealdstone next weekend.

Saunders said: “I’ve been honest with the players and told them there’s still a lot of places up for grabs. “That isn’t because anyone’s done badly. It’s because they’ve done well. We’re about where I thought we’d be at this stage. There’s a little bit of fine tuning to be done.

“We’ve not quite clicked in the final third but I’m not concerned about that. There’s a false tempo in friendlies. A lot of stuff is played in front of back fours but once the season starts, there’s more pressure on defences and you start to force mistakes.”

Striker Frannie Collin is likely to be one of the first names on the teamsheet. Paul Booth and Ian Draycott will be battling for a place alongside him, while midfielders Fabio Saraiva and Orlando Smith can also play up front.

Saunders added: “Frannie hasn’t said who he’d rather play with but he likes being the last man and being right up against centre-halves. He had to play in the hole a lot at Tonbridge last season and he doesn’t really like it.

“We’ve got plenty of options up there. We need to decide who will best complement him.”